Something To Be Done
by HecateA
Summary: When Luna and Ginny wake up the morning after the battle and find their friend missing, it's only natural that he's gone to the greenhouses. Oneshot.


**Author's note: **I don't write these three nearly enough; enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Hogwarts: **Assignment #1, Celtic Languages Task #3 Write about someone/people trying to keep something from becoming extinct or dying out (like a tradition, language or risk of animals becoming extinct).

**Warnings: **Set the day after the Battle of Hogwarts

* * *

**Something To Be Done **

"Neville," Ginny called out. Even if there were no more Death Eaters on the grounds, even if Kingsley and what was left of the Auror Department had cleared them out and the Order was still patrolling just in case, she felt her heart in her throat… "Neville!"

"Oh," Luna said next to her in a pleasantly surprised tone. Ginny turned to her and saw Luna tucked a stray curl behind her ear, in the dim twilight light. "We're looking for him at the wrong place."

She took Ginny's hand and smiled encouragingly, which had the effect of immediately soothing her nerves.

"Come on," Luna said. "Just this way…"

Sure enough, Neville was in what was left of the Hogwarts Greenhouses. Ginny hadn't even realized that the fighting had reached this part of the school last night, but several of the Greenhouses' glass ceilings had shattered, leaving behind shards of broken glass, collapsed work tables, upturned and shattered pots, and bags of soil and fertilizer that had been blown up.

They found their friend in what had once been Greenhouse 4, at a work table with pots and dirt and a strange, silverish flower that looked somewhat like an orchid before him. Somewhere in the wreckage, he'd found one of the canvas work aprons that Sprout made them wear and slipped it on over his clothes, still torn and bloodied from the battle.

"Neville?" Ginny asked again. "Neville, are you alright?"

He looked up at them.

"Hey," he said. His eyes looked small and sleepless and his hair was a right mess too. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything's fine," Ginny said. "Aberforth and Madam Rosmerta are pitching in to feed breakfast to everyone who spent the night at the castle, but most people are still sleeping. Luna woke up and you weren't there, so we just… we wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm okay," Neville said. "I just—I overheard McGonagall saying that the Greenhouses would need to be rebuilt last night and I couldn't sleep, and then Professor Sprout's at St. Mungo's for that leg injury so I thought I'd better check in."

"Oh," Ginny said. She looked around her. All she had really seen coming in was wreckage, but now she saw that a few rows of hanging pots were undisturbed, that the plants who hated sunlight and were tucked under worktables still seemed alive and well, that some trays of succulents hadn't been tipped over…

"What's that one?" Luna said, pointing to the flower before him. "It's very beautiful."

"It's called the Argentum Alicia Orchid," Neville said, one of his fingers trailing down the plant's stem as he spoke. "They sing three times a day—sunrise, high noon, and sunset. It's this very nice, airy whistling that comes up through the roots and out the flower's cap…"

"That's wicked," Ginny admitted. "Do you reckon we'll hear it today?"

Neville chewed his lip.

"I've repotted it, but it took a pretty bad fall last night, so I don't know..." he said.

He sighed.

"They're extinct in the wild—so they really only exist in private collections or with Herbologists, because they were in such high demand in the 1950s that they were basically poached. And now the Ministry's really strict about who raises them, so that nobody's making a profit off of them, so Professor Sprout's actually got a permit to keep the seven plants she's got…"

"That's why we never see them in class, then," Ginny said.

Neville nodded.

"She let me work with them sometimes, when I'd go see her after class hours to help out," Neville said. "I don't know if she was technically supposed to let me, but she told me that once that these flowers were so loved and obsessed over that a lot of witches born in the 50s were named after them, and I thought of my mum and how that might be where _Alice _came from and…"

He took a deep breath.

"I know that people died today," Neville said. "Like… good, strong, loved people that we're never going to get back. But I just hated the idea that the plants would go too, just because they were at the wrong place and everyone forgot."

"Yeah," Ginny said. "Yeah, I get that, Neville."

And she did, actually, even if she'd never been one for Herbology. There was something appealing about the idea of digging her hands in the dirt just then, feeling the coolness and richness of the soil as she packed it around the roots of something that could stay alive and be alive and live past tonight… There was nothing to be done about the bodies laying in the Great Hall, Fred included. But if Neville could repot the plants, surely that was something. It had to be something.

"I'm sorry about the orchids," Ginny said. "Was that the only one you found?"

"No," Neville said. "No, the others also fell, I've got them set up in that tray over there with their roots cleaned out and untangled…"

"Well what can we do to help?" Luna asked. She used her wand to wind her hair up in a bun and pulled up the sleeves of the green sweater she was wearing. A set of silver bangles clattered at her wrist and Ginny couldn't help but think that she'd seen Fleur wear those before. "Do you need them repotted? Do you want us to go scavenge for unbroken pots? Is there a specific colour of watering can you'd like?"

"Oh," Neville said. "Oh, no, you guys should go back to sleep, I'm sorry for worrying you…"

"No, we're here," Ginny agreed. She had a hairband around her wrist that she used to make a quick ponytail. "Tell us what you need."

Neville sighed.

"A hug, first," he said. "I missed you guys so much."

They happily obliged. Ginny buried her face in Neville's chest, knowing full well that she'd pull away with dirt on her nose, and she felt Luna burrow into her shoulder. They stayed like that, the three of them in the early morning light, until the orchids behind them began to sing.

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**Stacked with: **MC4A; Hogwarts; Swap and Shop

**Individual Challenge(s): **Bloomin' Time; Gryffindor MC (x2); Ravenclaw MC; Trio of Silver (Y); Seds; Golden Times; Old Shoes; Location, Location, Location; Themes & Things A (Friendship); Themes & Things B (Loss); Themes & Things C (Flowers); Themes & Things D (Sweater/Jumper); Themes & Things E (Table); Themes & Things F (Resilience); Advice from the Mug; Rian-Russo Inversions; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Word Count: **1024


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